Parker | Pittsburgh Senior Photographer

Read more about the article Parker | Pittsburgh Senior Photographer
© 2020 Missy Timko Photography. www.missytimko.com

“Parker is kind, compassionate, smart, caring, funny, creative, and sincere.” -Mom

Parker’s mom called me over the summer to see about having a yearbook photo taken for her son. She told me that he was not very excited about the idea of having a portrait taken because he was in a unique time of his life and just didn’t know how to approach the portrait process. It seemed to me like they just wanted to get it over with and submit the requisite yearbook photo to the editor and be done with it.

After a phone call with his incredibly compassionate and kind mom, I discovered that there was more to the story. It felt to me like it wasn’t that Parker didn’t want to celebrate the accomplishment and excitement that comes with graduation, he maybe just didn’t know how to be himself in front of the camera. I rallied my styling team, got Parker and mom on board, and we planned a day that goes down in my 10-year history as a photographer as one of the most fulfilling and beautiful shoots I’ve ever had. Mom describes the shoot below.
trans high school student wearing pink coat in the park

DESCRIBE YOUR SENIOR IN A FEW SENTENCES.

Parker is kind, compassionate, smart, caring, funny, creative, and sincere. He is honest and true with himself and others. His courage, strength, and perseverance are inspiring. Parker’s beauty radiates from the inside out making those around him feel appreciated and cared for.

black & white portrait of transgender high school man taking a senior portrait

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE MISSY TIMKO PHOTOGRAPHY?

I wanted to have something other than the “usual” senior photo for Parker. He was going through a transitional stage in his life and I wanted his senior picture to mark the milestone as well as reflect his personality and represent him honestly and authentically. When I reached out to Missy, I immediately felt that she understood the vision I had and embraced the opportunity to help capture the moment and celebrate Parker.

trans high school student leaning against urban area wall

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR PORTRAIT SESSION? ANY TIPS FOR OTHER SENIORS REGARDING PLANNING A PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION?

Missy connected us with her amazing wardrobe, hair, and makeup team to help Parker find just the right look for the photo shoot. Even more amazing than the physical clothing and styling that her team helped coordinate, was the way in which they all made Parker feel about himself. His confidence was shining in every shot and pose!

trans high school student senior portrait with pink jacket in park

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE IMAGE(S) FROM THIS SESSION? DESCRIBE THE IMAGE AND WHY YOU LOVE IT.

Such a hard choice! I love them all!! If I have to choose, there is one of Parker outside. He has his “Protect Trans Kids” shirt on, just removing his pink coat, and looking up towards the sky with a smile. It makes me smile every time I see it:-)


trans high school student black and white senior portrait in park

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?

Missy went above and beyond throughout our whole experience. She was both passionate and compassionate. She understood our needs and absolutely went out of her way to embrace Parker and the vision he was going for. Missy helped to make Parker look and feel amazing, bringing out his confidence more and more with each shot. She is extremely knowledgeable and well versed in suggesting just the right pose, expression, or turn of the head to complement the subject, creating a sense of comfort and ease. In addition to embracing the subject through the lens, Missy clearly has a genuine connection with her clients. She is sincere, warm, and thoughtful, all of which comes through in her work.

Thanks to my amazing team:

Wardrobe by Flourish Styling Co.

Hair & Makeup by Lisa Johnson

Missy Timko Photography is a boutique photography studio located in Mt. Lebanon, PA. Missy specializes in children from newborn to senior, families, and adults. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also has a gorgeous custom studio space in uptown Mt. Lebanon.  There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick & easy headshots, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh.  Contact Missy for availability.

New Blog Series: Our Most Loyal Families

Read more about the article New Blog Series: Our Most Loyal Families

I am working on a new series dedicated to my most loyal repeat clients! I have quite a few families that have done portraits with me 4, 5, 6, even 7 years! When I moved here in 2012, Mimi was born just three months later, so my first PA families were in 2013. I started my business as Powder Blue Photography in 2010 in Portland, OR, and we have now celebrated 10 years in business! 🎉

I am overjoyed when a familiar client (friend!) gets in touch to schedule a shoot. I am even more excited when someone texts me with baby news! These are families whose kids I’ve known since they were teeny tiny, some of them newborns, and their moms and dads are devoted to documenting their childhoods through newborn, family, and senior portraits. Many of the moms and dads have done their headshots with me as well, some of them multiple times throughout the years. These are also clients that are responsible for many of my referrals, so I owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

fall family portraits with changing leaves color pittsburgh pa

There is nothing I enjoy more about my job than forming relationships with the kids and babies I photograph. I was able to form meaningful relationships when I was a public high school teacher (art, photography, AP Art) on the West Coast from 2000-2012, and my favorite part of teaching was my relationship with the kids as well. I didn’t realize when I opened my photography studio in 2010 that I would enjoy this benefit as a photographer as well. Some of the kids I photograph have said “I love you Missy!” and their parents have told me that they look forward to seeing me, or they talk about me often… the kiddos consider me a friend, and that means the world to me!

family portraits in pittsburgh

Many of these clients have walls of portraits in their homes and shelves full of albums that I have crafted for them. I work with them every year to update their gallery walls or add a new grouping. I have lately been making suggestions on how to handle it when you have run out of wall space! (Move oldest portraits to the family room or an upstairs hallway, or create a grouping for each kiddo in their room using their individual portraits from every year.) These wall displays tell their kids, “You are loved and valued in this home, and family is important!”

So my goal this winter is to honor each of the families that have worked with me for multiple years with downloadable slideshows of their children and families as they have grown each year. I am honored by their love and trust!

I never delete photos that have been purchased by my clients. I delete the RAW files, plus any images that have not been selected for purchase, pretty much right after the ordering appointment since they take up a LOT of drive space. I don’t guarantee image archival after very much time has passed, and that is only because I cannot guarantee that my backups won’t fail. That said, I have a comprehensive system that consists of multiple external drives as well as multiple cloud-based storage systems containing every image I’ve delivered to clients. It is extremely unlikely that I would ever lose any of my work. In 2021, I plan to start including free multi-year galleries with the purchase of image files! Currently, image galleries and download links are active for one month, but I am thinking that should change!

Throughout this post, you are seeing a peek at just some of the families I may feature. Let me know if you would like to be one of the featured families by liking and commenting on my Facebook post. Ask your friends and family to comment as well if you want to get my attention! 🥰 Featured clients will receive a link to download their slideshow(s) as well as a special gift in the mail!

Thanks so much for 10 years of Missy Timko Photography! I can’t wait to share these wonderful memories with you!

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Missy Timko Photography is a boutique photography studio located in Mt. Lebanon, PA. Missy specializes in children from newborn to senior, families, and adults. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also has a gorgeous custom studio space in uptown Mt. Lebanon.  There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick & easy headshots, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh.  Contact Missy for availability.

Helena | Fox Chapel High School Class of 2017 | Canon Dual Pixel RAW

Read more about the article Helena | Fox Chapel High School Class of 2017 | Canon Dual Pixel RAW

We shot gorgeous Helena’s session at Hartwood Mansion in the area between Fox Chapel and Allison Park.  This is an absolutely stunning location, LOVED it.  The bookish/historic background reminds me of Hogwarts!  The downside is that there are other families there doing portraits there too, but I don’t mind that too much.

So along with this perfect weather day and location came my perfect subject, Helena!  Happy photographer.  We tried a few different looks and lighting scenarios to create a sense of variety in her images.  Helena’s favorite was the one of her sitting on the steps.  I like the ones with the flowers in the background.

********** Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in the West End Village in Pittsburgh. There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick updates of just the kids, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh. Contact Missy for availability.

This was the first session I shot with my new Canon 5D mark IV!  I am so thrilled with its performance!  The only disappointment was the Dual Pixel RAW feature–it takes up so much more memory and the software is really clunky.  When you change the pixel layer (?), you have to export as a TIF which destroys my whole RAW workflow.  I might use this more if they add a Lightroom plugin or something faster & easier to use.  Not sure it will ever make sense for me if you have to color correct within the DPP software though… I have been refining my system in Lightroom for so many years and this messes up my batch editing process.

Tree pose for mom!

© 2016 Powder Blue Photography. www.powderbluephoto.com

In the last several images I tried to capture Helena’s free spirit.

********** Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in the West End Village in Pittsburgh. There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick updates of just the kids, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh. Contact Missy for availability.

I loved meeting you and your mom!  Thanks for doing portraits with me!

**********

Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in the West End Village in Pittsburgh.  There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick updates of just the kids, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh.  Contact Missy for availability.